Why Vouchers?

There are many good reasons to support school vouchers for poor
families.

There are many good reasons to support school vouchers for poor
families. But one of the best has been consistently overlooked:
Vouchers will be good for teachers.

In fact, from a teacher's point of view, voucher programs are just
about the best of all possible education reforms. Here's why: Vouchers
increase the number of choices available to teachers and spark heated
competition for talented educators. Growing voucher programs will
almost certainly bring better pay, improved working environments, and
more respect to the teaching profession.

Let's start with one basic premise: The average public school
teacher cares deeply about her students, knows quite a bit about how
people learn, and works tirelessly to help students achieve. This same
"average teacher" probably works for an unresponsive district
bureaucracy. She receives insufficient support from the administration.
And she is markedly underpaid.

What's the problem? A lack of teacher choice. Compared to doctors or
lawyers, for example, teachers have very few options for employment. In
most poor areas—where well-funded private schools are
rare—a teacher must work for the local public school district if
she wants to earn a living wage. Every public school in the area is a
part of this bureaucracy: same pay, same benefits, same rules.

From a teacher's
point of view, voucher programs are just about the best of all
possible education reforms.

Of course, an educator will often have the option of working for
five to six school districts within driving distance of her
home. But nearby districts rarely differ significantly in benefits or
pay, and all of these districts have to follow the same set of
Byzantine state regulations.

For a doctor or a lawyer (or virtually anyone else), unlimited
choice is so obvious that we rarely think about it. Should I work for a
small firm or a large one? Should I accept a great salary for a 70-hour
workweek, or a smaller salary and fewer hours? Should I work with a
bunch of young, energized upstarts or with a group of knowledgeable
veterans? Which potential employer holds values most similar to my
own?

Teachers have a right to the same breadth of choices that the rest
of us take for granted.

Proponents of vouchers typically advocate increased choice for
parents and students. The argument is familiar: Vouchers make it
much easier for all sorts of alternative providers to spring up in poor
areas. Instead of being at the mercy of one unresponsive bureaucracy,
disadvantaged families are served by many different providers with many
different models. Since parent choice dictates where the money flows,
schools will increasingly target the needs of the local population.

But teachers also benefit when more choices are available. As
providers proliferate and schools become more diverse, teachers have
more options. An educator can choose to work at a school that reflects
his or her values, skills, experience, and personal goals (say, a
mixed-age classroom on a year-round calendar with bilingual
instruction). Another teacher with different needs can go
elsewhere.

But even more important, vouchers will generate competition for good
teachers. To be successful in a voucher system, a school must convince
parents to enroll their children. What will the vast majority of
parents care about? The quality of teaching. Thus, successful schools
will be those that can recruit and retain the very best teachers. With
so many different providers trying to recruit good teachers, all sorts
of benefits will follow. Salaries will go up, and support for teachers
will improve.

Vouchers increase the number of choices available to teachers and
spark heated competition for talented educators.

Economists have two terms that apply to our current system of public
education: monopoly and monopsony. These two terms are different sides
of the same coin. A monopoly exists when there is only one seller of a
certain product or service. A monopsony exists when there is only one
buyer.

From a parent's perspective, the local public school district is a
seller of educational services. And it's really the only seller:
Ninety percent of American students attend public schools. This is a
monopoly that Bill Gates could envy.

A teacher, on the other hand, sees the public school system as a
buyer, since schools pay educators to teach. Because public schools
control 90 percent of the market, these public school districts can
dictate the terms of employment. This is a classic case of
monopsony.

That's why teachers now need unions. An individual has virtually no
bargaining power against the monopsonistic school system and its 90
percent market share. Joining a union helps level the playing
field.

But what happens when the monopsony is broken and competition
reigns? According to economic theory, salaries will go up, and working
environments will improve. (For an extreme example, look at what
happened to the salaries of baseball players once free agency allowed
them to negotiate with multiple teams.)

In a full voucher system, teachers are freed from the need for
unions. Like doctors and lawyers, they become full professionals, free
to sell their services to the highest bidder.

Teachers have a
right to the same breadth of choices that the rest of us take for
granted.

There is already some evidence that vouchers lead to these predicted
gains. The Los Angeles Times reports that, since accepting
voucher students, St. Anthony's Elementary School in Milwaukee has been
forced to raise its starting teacher salary from $22,000 to $30,000.
That's a 36 percent increase.

It's natural for many teachers—and their unions—to fear
vouchers. The current system, no matter how dysfunctional, is very
stable. Teachers know whom they'll work for, what problems they'll
face, and how little support they'll receive.

But freedom is calling. Liberated from the monopsonistic school
system, the vast majority of teachers will be rewarded by growing
competition in the educational sector. They'll be rewarded not only
with better pay, but also with more support from administrators, more
accolades from parents, and more respect from the community.

For reassurance, teachers need only look around at professionals in
other fields. Doctors and lawyers are paid high salaries partially
because they participate in the marketplace. Hospitals compete for good
doctors, whether they are world-class heart surgeons or effective
family-practice physicians. Clients compete for good lawyers in much
the same way.

One criticism of voucher programs is that they rely on "cutthroat
competition" to improve schools. This is true: Any school that fails to
attract students will have to close.

But this competition will be overwhelmingly positive for the average
teacher. If schools must convince parents to enroll their children,
then good teachers will be in great demand. Very few parents are so
naive to think that flashy brochures and slick sales pitches are more
important than good teachers.

Voucher programs unleash the forces of competition in service of
educators.

Tim DeRoche worked as a consultant to the Los Angeles Unified
School District from 1995 to 1997, assisting in the implementation of
the LEARN reform plan. He is currently an educational television
producer and science writer, and can be reached by e-mail at: [email protected].

Tim DeRoche worked as a consultant to the Los Angeles Unified School
District from 1995 to 1997, assisting in the implementation of the
LEARN reform plan. He is currently an educational television producer
and science writer, and can be reached by e-mail at: [email protected].

"A Bold
Experiment To Fix City Schools," a July 1999 Atlantic Monthly
article takes a look at a proposal for school vouchers on which Milton
Friedman, Lamar Alexander, and Kweisi Mfume, the president of the
NAACP, all agree.

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